Automatic teller machines ("ATM's") are presently in wide use in different applications. Some are in or adjacent banks, some elsewhere, so that customers can perform various banking transactions at any hour, any day. A typical ATM in that role allows an authorized customer to receive cash, make deposits, transfer funds from one account to another, and so forth. Deposits are generally of two types; cash or checks or both are placed in an envelope and the latter taken into the ATM by an envelope depositing mechanism. Other, larger deposits of cash and checks are placed in a bag and the bag taken into the ATM through a bag depositing mechanism, the bag dropping into a secure chest within the machine. All this is done while the customer stands before the machine so that its functions are easily at hand.
In drive-up banking, however, the customer is seated in a car from which it is usually difficult and awkward to reach any significant distance to make a deposit. So the practice in that case is to bring the receptable into which the deposit is to be made to the seated customer so far as possible. In teller-assisted drive-up banking this is done in some instances by use of a "deal drawer", examples of which are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,145,918 and 3,390,833, which moves horizontally from the teller station towards the customer and opens to provide a receptacle not only conveniently at hand but whose entire interior is clearly visible to the customer. The latter aspect is important to the customer's peace of mind who wants assurance that his or her deposit is being properly received. But the same thing is not so readily achieved when an ATM is used for drive-up banking. It is one thing for car-borne customers to reach the ATM with their cards, to manipulate its keyboard, and to receive cash or make an envelope deposit. But to make a bag deposit from a car is another thing entirely, both from the standpoint of customer satisfaction as well as from that of security of the ATM.
If a "hopper" type bag depository is used, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,520, in a drive-up ATM, the interior of the receptacle may not be readily visible to the customer unless the depository is mounted low-down on the front of the ATM in which case the capacity of the chest into which it empties is limited. The same is essentially true of the "drum" type, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,707,261. And neither moves from the ATM towards the customer as does a deal drawer. A "drawer" type depository, however, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,630, unlike the others advances towards the customer in the manner of a deal drawer but the interior of its receptacle, which opens through the top of the drawer, may not be readily visible to the customer unless it too is mounted well down on the ATM. The drawer type, however, has one advantage the other two do not: as it closes it can move the deposit not only from the customer but also well to the rear of the ATM. This aspect is important in a drive-up ATM, which is often a free standing unit, because then the chest itself can be located well to the rear of the ATM's front wall and thus increase its security.
So the chief object of the present invention is a bag depository which incorporates the features of prior bag depositories which are desirable for security and convenience reasons in a drive-up ATM but eliminates those which are not.